A new Virgin Money analysis revealed fans of British football clubs in the Champions League are beating many of the European giants, at least in terms of replica shirt prices.
Average replica shirt costs for all 32 clubs in the Champions League group stages are £62 ($100) -- while the four English clubs are 15% cheaper at an average £52.50 ($85), with Scotland’s only representative, Celtic, coming in 11% below the average at £55 ($89). The cheapest replica shirts on offer belong to Portuguese side Benfica, which charges fans just £25 ($40) while fans of Turkey’s Galatasaray pay around £42 ($68). However, supporters of Russia’s Zenit St. Petersburg have to fork out £87 ($141) for a shirt, with fans of FC Basel of Switzerland being charged more than £81 ($131). The relative good news for English and Scottish clubs underlines the fact that these clubs are doing something to control prices, although Virgin Money’s Football Fans Inflation Index -- which has tracked domestic prices since '06 -- shows football inflation running at 3%, compared to the Consumer Price Index at 2.7% (Virgin Money).
The cheapest replica shirts in the Champions League are shown below:
| Club |
Replica shirt price |
| Benfica |
£25.01 |
| Galatasaray |
£41.82 |
| Viktoria Plzen |
£42.14 |
| CSKA Moscow |
£48.34 |
| Chelsea |
£49.99 |
| Arsenal |
£50 |
| Bayern Munich |
£50.15 |
| Olympiakos |
£50.19 |
| Celtic/ManU/Man City |
£55 |
The 10 most expensive replica shirts in the Champions League are shown below:
| Club |
Replica shirt price |
| Zenit St. Petersburg |
£87.16 |
| FC Basel |
£81.27 |
| Steau Bucharest |
£78.51 |
| Shakthar Donetsk |
£76.40 |
| Juventus |
£71.11 |
| Paris St Germain |
£71.11 |
| Porto |
£71.11 |
| Barcelona |
£71.10 |
| Atletico Madrid |
£67.76 |
| Real Madrid |
£66.93 |
